


King Arthur is throwing a fit.

by tourdefierce



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-06
Updated: 2012-01-06
Packaged: 2017-10-29 01:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/314465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tourdefierce/pseuds/tourdefierce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><a href="http://photobucket.com">
<br/><img/></a></p>
            </blockquote>





	King Arthur is throwing a fit.

**Author's Note:**

> For thisissirius.
> 
> Originally posted at LJ: December 1st, 2010.

Merlin scowled at the roll of parchment in front of him. It was some legal mumbo-jumbo that he was supposed to sign off on but he wasn't putting his name on something that he couldn't make heads or tails of. He was going to have a talk with Geoffrey about writing laws in plainer language because if Merlin couldn't read them, then the baker surely wouldn't be able to either, nor the smithy or any other peasant.

"Sire?"

Merlin looked up to see Sir Leon looming awkwardly in the doorway. "Leon, please call me Merlin."

"Certainly, sire," Leon said with a nod of his head. Merlin frowned.

He looked... _nervous_.

"Is everything okay?" Merlin said cautiously but Leon nodded and stepped forward into the room. His voice was low when he spoke.

"The King is in a mood."

Right. Naturally.

"Does this have anything to do with his coronation ceremony?"

Leon twitched.

"I believe so, sire."

"Leon," Merlin warned but the knight was already pulling Merlin's robes off the hook by the door and holding them out for Merlin to slip on. "Oh fine."

"He's in the throne room," Leon said calmly as Merlin tied the front of his robes. "He's been throwing things."

"Of course he has."

<3<3<3

"This is ridiculous!"

Merlin stared at the large doors, listening to Arthur roar behind them. Uther had been dead not three days before Camelot's boarders erupted in skirmishes and talk of war flooded the land. At the time, Arthur had been crowned without the fuss of coronation because there were more important things to think about. Now, a year later, the boarders were quiet and all major repeals of laws, specifically the magical ones, were settling in nicely into the new Camelot. Apparently, peace meant that a coronation would be held and then Merlin, mostly responsible for creating that peace (no thanks to anyone else) was to have absolutely no rest because Arthur was a child who lived only to make Merlin's life harder.

Being Court Sorcerer did not improve his living all that much and Merlin was thinking about demanding a do-over.

Just as Merlin was thinking about mounting a full scale protest, a very small and trembling maid servant stumbled out of the door, looking terrified and close to tears.

"Bollocks," Merlin muttered before pushing past the girl and sweeping into the room with a small shield around him. The last time he interrupted one of Arthur's tantrums, he received a face full of wine for his trouble. He wasn't making that mistake again.

"This is a farce," Arthur was yelling at a tired looking Morgana and a bored looking Geoffrey. "I will not stand up in front of the entire court and _lie to them_. I am not my father!"

"Arthur Pendragon," Merlin said in his listen-to-me-you-complete-clotpole voice. "Are you terrorizing your subjects?"

Arthur looked up from where he was practically frothing at the mouth in Morgana's general direction and smiled a very, very tight smile that turned into a pout right before Merlin's eyes. It was like magic.

"They're not my subjects if they don't listen to me."

"That's because he's being unreasonable!" Morgana threw her hands up in the air and stood up from her seat beside the thrown. "Send a messenger to me when he's regained sense."

With that, she flounced out of the room with a hard glare that Arthur returned.

"Unreasonable? That woman has taken leave of _her_ senses!" Arthur snarled out. "I should have her put in the stocks or sell her off to the Duke of Wellington next time he comes leering around here. I heard he beats his women before he takes them."

Merlin blinked. "I thought the Duke of Wellington was fond of young boys?"

"Don't you start to defy me," Arthur warned but he deflated into his chair. "Not that you ever listened in the first place."

"Indeed," Merlin replied, nodding to Geoffrey with a politeness that made the older man scowl and escape out the back entrance of the room. Merlin waited until he was sure Geoffrey wasn't listening at the door before he turned to face Arthur, who was generally melting into a full-on Pendragon sulk.

"Are you going to tell me what this is about?"

Arthur scowled and Merlin would swear he saw a tremble in the man's lip.

"It's nothing."

Merlin arched an eyebrow and approached the throne slowly. "I doubt it's nothing that's got you hurling things at servants, being disagreeable with your most beloved knight and starting a row with Morgana that will have you building another castle for her, if the last time you pissed her off is any indication."

Merlin stopped, his robe touching the tips of Arthur's boots. "If I come any closer, are you going to drench me in wine?"

"No," Arthur whined and a very stubborn crossing of his arms.

Merlin nodded and promptly climbed into the King's lap.

"Merlin," Arthur hissed. "You can't-"

Merlin whispered a locking spell and curled his arms around Arthur's shoulders, pressing them together and settling more firmly into Arthur's lap, forcing Arthur's arms to wrap around him. "I think you'll find that I can, indeed, do whatever I please."

"It's an insult to the throne," Arthur said without heat.

"Oh and you throwing a royal tantrum isn't?"

The look Arthur gave him would be comfortably paired with the man sticking out his tongue and so, Merlin was too endeared by the cuteness. Instead of making fun of Arthur, he curled his fingers into the hair curling at the nape of Arthur's neck and leaned forward Arthur had no choice but to look at him.

"All right?"

Arthur nodded, biting his lip and staring at Merlin for a few long moments before he cleared his throat. "Coronation planning is unpleasant."

"But necessary," Merlin added but Arthur shrugged.

"I know that, it's just that..."

Merlin waited, stroking the back of Arthur's neck and letting the man work around the words. It was amazing that him and Arthur ever got together in the first place. Arthur was terribly allergic to discussions of feelings.

At the worst of times, it was hurtful but at the best of times, Arthur's emotional constipation was adorable. Like a puppy. Or a stable boy.

"They want me to dance with Gwen at the coronation."

"Does that bother you?"

"Yes!" Arthur yelled and Merlin tilted his head.

"Why? She's set to be your queen."

"In four years!"

"Yes, but Camelot needs to see that you back your peasant reforms," Merlin said with a frown. "Arthur, we've already talked about this."

"I understand that," Arthur growled out. "And I have already expressed my disapproval with _lying to my people_ quite vocally if I recall."

"It's part of being King, Arthur."

This was a discussion that Merlin hated having. Who has to push the love of his life to marry someone else? Right. Who had to encourage their King to be just a tiny bit more like their bastard father? Right. Who had to convince their very queer boyfriend to hold a very pretty lady's hand? Right. Destiny was a bitch.

"I don't see how you can say that," Arthur said bitterly.

Merlin sighed. "It's not ideal, but there really isn't-"

"I want to dance with you at my coronation."

"Arthur-"

"I want to dance with you at my coronation because you're my queen, dammit!"

The harsh silence that filled the room is so sudden and thick that Merlin was sure that could only be magic. Merlin blinked, slowly taking in the set of Arthur's jaw, the thin lipped line, his steely-cold eyes that looked like anger but felt like hurt, and the furrow of his brow that spoke only of betrayal.

"What did Geoffrey say?"

Arthur closed his eyes, his hands tightening on Merlin's waist to just this side of painful. "He said that no matter what I chose to do or be in private was not always what Camelot needed to see."

Geoffrey always did have a way with words.

"And Morgana?"

"That you weren't anybodies anything," Arthur said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "That you weren't a woman and you certainly weren't a queen."

Merlin leaned forward until his forehead rested against Arthur's. They breathed in the same air for a bit, Arthur's breath smelled like wine and sun warmed apple skins. Merlin always smelled the sun on Arthur's skin, even if the sky had been cloud covered for days.

"You will dance with whomever you want as long as they're female," Merlin said in a whisper. "It doesn't have to be Gwen if you don't want it to be."

"Merlin."

He sounded too tired and weary for a bright, young and prolific leader. Merlin pressed his body closer to him until he could no longer stand the temptation of Arthur's bitten lips. The kiss was gentle but imploring and Merlin poured everything he had inside of him into the kiss. He could feel the magic hum through his body, reacting to Arthur's soft sigh and yielding mouth.

"I would be your queen," Merlin said when he pulled away, forcing Arthur to meet his gaze. "If you wanted me to be, I would be your queen. I would be anything for you, Arthur Pendragon."

"I know."

"Do you?"

The tension held for just a few more seconds as Merlin let Arthur search his face and then it broke, Arthur's lips coming to press all over the surface of Merlin's face, like tiny sealed promises etched into his skin.

"Yes," Arthur said with a genuine smile that Merlin returned.

"And later, we'll dance in your chambers."

"Will we?"

"Naturally," Merlin said coyly, "but it'll be better."

"Because it's not a lie?"

"Cheeky," Merlin replied, leaning in to nip at Arthur's lip. "It will be better because we'll be starkers."

The smile on Arthur's face was wide and full of a certain naughtiness that Merlin was unaccustomed to being subjected to in the throne room. The look was usually paired with nakedness or long hunting trips between the two of them.

"I'll even let you wear your shiny King-crown," Merlin added before placing a chaste kiss to Arthur's lips and sliding back, off his lap and landing lightly on the floor. Arthur stared up at him, his eyes bright and eager.

"I'll wear mine, if you wear yours," Arthur replied with a little waggle of his eyebrows that would ridiculous on anyone that wasn't Arthur. Instead, he just looked terribly alluring. Merlin had to resist climbing back into this lap.

"I don't have a crown."

"We'll see about that," Arthur said commandingly as Merlin backed up and out of the throne room.

Merlin smiled to himself, nodding to Sir Leon as he slipped past him and made his way down the corridor toward his rooms.

He thought that a crown, albeit a secret and traitorous one, would be much better than the servant's ceremonial hat from his earlier years.

"Sacrifices must be made!" Merlin said cheerfully as he stripped off his robes and settled back down to review the parchment in front of him.


End file.
